The Cougars had a second quarter that you hope never happens, three points for the entire quarter. They outscored the Graham G-men in the second half but couldn’t overcome the disaster of a second quarter, as Graham won 63-52.

The Cougars were led by Benjamin Poe with 14 and Gage Mannon 12. Poe scored 12 of his 14 and Mannon all 12 of his in the second half. The Cougars were down 45-28 going into the last quarter but they continued to battle. ” We had our best scoring half in the second half tonight but that second quarter wasn’t good for us.” said a disappointed Cougar head coach Andrew Hart. ” We drove more to the basket in the second half and made some plays. We got to get better. We have trouble putting the ball in the basket. ”

In other action of the last day of the tourney saw Marion defeat Alleghany 66-59 for seventh place. Caleb Osbourne had 21 and Kesean Goins 18 in the win. Alleghany got 19 from Ryan Sturgill. The fifth place game saw Galax shock the Fort Chiswell Pioneers 75-44. Isaac Hawks scored 26 the Tide and Kolton Sutphin 17 for the losing Pioneers.

The championship game became a route as Radford drubbed the George Wythe Maroons 74-39. The first half was the Quinton Morton-Robertson show as he knocked down six straight three’s and had 22 points at intermission, the same as the whole Geo. Wythe team. He finished with 26 points and Miles Jones contributed 18 points and eight rebounds.

Pulaski Co. (3-7) will host Cave Spring this Friday in the Cougar Den. JV action tips at 5:30 and varsity at 7:00 pm.

Pulaski Co. comeback fell short as they lost to Geo. Wythe 58-52 in the second round of the First Community Bank Tournament held at Fort Chiswell High school. The Cougars were led by Benjamin Poe with 17 points and Dillon Porter tossed in 11.

Geo. Wythe (7-0) got 24 points from Ty Farrow and 15 from Josh Reeves in the win. The Maroons were down 12-10 after the opening period but went up 16-12 and took a 26-23 lead into halftime. They held the lead until the Cougars went on a 10-0 run to go up 33-30 with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Geo. Wythe would go on a 14-4 run to take a 44-37 advantage after three quarters. They would stretch their lead to 10, 50-40 with 4:55 to go. The Cougars would then go on another run 12-4 to cut their deficit to four 54-52 with 30.3 seconds remaining in the game. They would miss a layup and turn the ball over and the Maroons would put the game on ice hitting four throws in the last 20 seconds.

” We made a nice comeback and played hard but we keep making bad plays the last three minutes of games, ” said Cougar head coach Andrew Hart. ” We didn’t make plays down the stretch and this the fourth game that we have done that. We probably are going to have to make some changes. We didn’t put the ball in the basket. ”

The Cougars (3-6) have now lost to a 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A school. You can say the Cougars can and have lost to anyone. They will now take on Graham for third place in the tournament. In other action, Radford ripped Graham 64-42 behind 22 points from Cam Cormany and 16 from Quinton Morton-Robertson. Graham got 12 points from Cam Allen.

Down 38-27 at intermission, the Cougars would outscore the Fort Chiswell Pioneers 32-17 in the second half to defeat them 59-55, in a hard-fought game. The Cougars got 21 points from Hayden Gray and 15 from Dillon Porter. Gray stroked five three’s and Porter pulled down 11 rebounds.

Fort Chiswell got 21 points from Kolton Sutphin and 13 from Matt Musick. The Pioneers led 35-16 with just under three minutes left before intermission. The Cougars Gray would then hit three- three’s to help the Cougars get back to 11 down going into halftime.

Cougar head coach Andrew Hart remarked, ” We played the worse half of basketball in the first half tonight. I challenged them at halftime. We came back out with a lot more intensity and energy for the second half.”

Pulaski Co. (3-5) stopped a three-game losing streak with the win and will face George Wythe in their second round. It was the Pioneers (8-1) first loss of the season. Coach Hart said, “We made a couple of adjustments for the second half. We put AJ McCloud on Sutphin and his length seemed to bother him some.”

Like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Sports will continue right after Christmas. Will be covering the First Community Bank Christmas Tournament from Fort Chiswell High School Dec. 27-29. Pulaski Co., Radford, Fort Chiswell, George Wythe, Galax, Marion, Graham and Alleghany Co. (NC) will be competing.